Bossalingo at An Die Musik live! Dec.9

I call Baltimore home now since I have been living here for the better part of 7 years, first as a renter moving from neighborhood to neighborhood just about every year, and most recently as a home owner in Waverly. I have lived in 7 different rental properties since moving here back in 2003. I first lived in a tiny efficiency in Charles Village, then moved to a roach infested apartment in southern Hampden, then to a beautiful cottage in Evergreen, then to a lovely townhouse Ednor Gardens where my daughter was born, then to a big leaky apartment in Roland Park, then to a nice place in Hamilton which was too expensive. My final rental was a tiny house in central Hampden. If feels great to finally settle down and own a house for the first time in my life. I am telling you this to offer a little insight into how special it was for me to finally be performing my original music at a fine Baltimore venue for the very first time. I have been running around this town for such a long time, but I have never performed my music here! Finally I had the chance to play for a lot of familiar faces at An Die Musik, a premier listening venue, and it was magnificent!

Many of my friends and acquaintances here in Baltimore did not have any idea I even played this kind of music. Some may have heard me jamming on percussion at a local drum circle or heard me at a friends wedding, but I have never performed this music in Baltimore City. It took me years to finish much of the music which I had sketched out in notebooks or recorded on my 4 track. I finally finished recording the new CD Steps Beyond at a wonderful studio called Beat Babies which is just outside Baltimore. The engineer, Chris Freeland, was instrumental in the whole process. It was Freeland's talent and efficiency that really allowed us to finish the entire project this past Spring in a matter of weeks. There are 4 new tracks from the Beat Babies session along with songs from an earlier 2005 session that I did with Steve Steckler of Asparagus Media Studios. Both sessions comprise the full album called Steps Beyond. Having that recording in the can put a fire under me to start performing again and I am so thankful for meeting Chris.

I have to admit, I had some uncertainty about who would come to our show in Baltimore. Bossalingo's first official show at Blues Alley went so well because much of the audience was familiar with the name. The original Bossalingo band was born on U St. in DC a decade ago where we performed weekly for listeners who were hungry for something different. So we had a following there and we were even featured on the local radio station, 89.3 shortly before the gig. Lots of family and old friends were expected at that show as well and they all came in full force! I was not at all sure of our Baltimore draw and I had absolutely no idea if we would get any new fans here. In retrospect, I think I had a lot of emotional ties to the show, wanting it to go well, wanting to see familiar faces. I really had no idea if it would be 2 or 200 and I was so pleased we did well! The standing ovation at the end helped give us all new confirmation and resolve about our potential here in Baltimore. We felt the outpouring of love from the crowd which just made us play even better!

I was surprised by the warm response we had at An Die Musik. Many new faces showed up as well as a lot of friends and acquaintances, including a reviewer from DC named Ken Avis who also provided me with the pictures you see here from the show. The lineup for Bossalingo was a little different at this particular show because it featured some local talent as opposed to the DC crew. The fabulous Didier Prossaird took the helm at grand piano and dazzled everyone with his mastery of Latin rhythm. Jake Leckie, a local favorite, was on upright bass, along with the fantastic Mike Kuhl on drums. It was thrilling to perform with this particular group and I hope we continue to find occasions to play together as Bossalingo continues to evolve.

I have to complement the staff and owner Henry of An Die Musik. They were a class act through and through. What a pleasure to perform there! We were treated with respect and consideration. Everything was handled in the most relaxed yet professional manner. I deeply appreciate working with others who absolutely love music. These are people who do it for the love of it and we all should make an effort to go to as many concerts there as possible throughout the season.